Author: chicagoinquirer

by Dan Gelston PHILADELPHIA — After beating the Eagles on the Super Bowl champions’ home turf, it was time for rookie Bears coach Ben Johnson to bare arms. Oh, and go bare-chested. Johnson tore off his shirt inside a jubilant locker room and flexed like a professional wrestler as the victorious Bears danced, hollered and chanted in a circle around him. “Good, better, best. Never let it rest till your good gets better and your better gets best,” the Bears and Johnson shouted. One of the surprise teams in the NFL, the Bears had every reason to go wild following…

by Alanna Durkin Richer and Gary Fields WASHINGTON  — Two West Virginia National Guard members who deployed to the nation’s capital were shot Wednesday afternoon just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence that the mayor described as a targeted attack. FBI Director Kash Patel and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said they were hospitalized in critical condition. The rare shooting of National Guard members, on the day before Thanksgiving, comes as the presence of the troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has been a flashpoint issue for months, fueling court fights…

by Assana Sambu and Mark Banchereau BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau  — The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS said it is suspending Guinea-Bissau from its decision-making bodies after the military seized power in the country on Wednesday, three days after national elections. The body said in a statement late Thursday it has decided “to suspend Guinea-Bissau from all ECOWAS decision-making bodies until the restoration of full and effective constitutional order in the country.” ECOWAS said it also “reserves the right to use all options” allowed under its rules, “including sanctions on all entities deemed culpable of disrupting the electoral and democratic…

by Nicole Winfield VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Tuesday doubled down on the value of monogamous marriage between a man and woman, responding to concerns raised by African bishops about the practice of polygamy in their flocks. The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office said the Catholic Church had a well-documented position upholding the indissolubility of marriage as a lifelong union between spouses. But it said the church’s position on the unique and exclusive nature of a monogamous marriage was less well known. In recent years at Vatican meetings of bishops, African delegates have regularly complained that polygamy is…

by Curtis Eye, Sal Christ, LUENA RODRIGUEZ-Feo, Vileira Carley Petesch President Donald Trump is bestowing ceremonial pardons on two turkeys before flying to his private Florida resort on Tuesday to celebrate Thanksgiving. The holiday interlude comes during what has been a turbulent and uncertain chapter of his second term. The turkey pardon, bestowed this year to birds Waddle and Gobble, is a presidential tradition dating back decades. But Thanksgiving may not provide Trump with much political respite after Democrats won sweeping victories in New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere earlier this month. In Washington, the president faces the possibility of a…

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, concluding that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump’s urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department. The rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie amount to a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration’s efforts to target Trump’s political opponents as well as its legal maneuvering to hastily install a loyalist prosecutor willing to file the cases. The orders make Lindsey Halligan the latest Trump administration prosecutor to be disqualified because of the manner…

by Mogomotsi Magome JOHANNESBURG  — South African police say they are investigating allegations that former President Jacob Zuma ‘s daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla lured 17 men who are now trapped in Russia into fighting in that country’s war with Ukraine without their consent. According to police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe, an affidavit filed by Zuma-Sambudla’s sister Nkosazana Bonganini Zuma-Mncube alleges that Zuma-Sambudla and two other people lured the men by claiming they would receive security training in Russia. Details about the two others were not immediately clear. The affidavit alleges they were handed over to a Russian mercenary group and forced to…

by Seung Min Kim WASHINGTON  — The White House is circulating a proposal that would extend subsidies to help consumers pay for coverage under the Affordable Care Act for two more years, as millions of Americans face spiking health care costs when the current tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year. The draft plan suggests that President Donald Trump is open to extending a provision of Obamacare as his administration and congressional Republicans search for a broader policy solution to a fight that has long flummoxed the party. The White House stresses that no plan…

by Gerald Imray, Mogomotsi Magme and Michelle Gumede JOHANNESBURG  — The Group of 20 summit in South Africa ended Sunday with the glaring absence of the United States — the next country to lead the bloc — after the Trump administration boycotted the two days of talks involving leaders of the world’s richest and top developing economies. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the summit in Johannesburg closed by banging a wooden gavel on a block like a judge would, in a G20 tradition. The gavel would normally be handed over to the leader of the next country to hold…

by Andrew Seligman CHICAGO  — Caleb Williams hoped he’d get a chance to chat with Aaron Rodgers. He got his opportunity after he led the Bears to yet another close win. Williams threw for three touchdowns, and Chicago beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-28 in a matchup of division leaders on Sunday while Rodgers, the Bears’ old nemesis, was sidelined with a broken left wrist. “Right after the game, we ended up saying hello, get healthy and we’ll go from there,” Williams said. Rodgers is 25-5 against the Bears from his long tenure in Green Bay, counting the playoffs. He once…